David Williamson saw a leader in waiting when Ed Miliband campaigned by the banks of Cardiff’s threatened Llanishen Reservoir

BLAZING energy, an ability to grasp strategic issues in an instant and a sheer hunger to connect with voters gave Ed Miliband the bounce he needed to leapfrog his brother to the leadership of the Labour party – plus, of course, crucial trade union support.

Back in May, just three days before voters went to the polls and pulled the curtains on 13 years of Labour Government, you might have expected the 40-year-old to be in a state of despair that Labour was on the verge of losing an election or exhaustion as a dogged campaign entered its final hours.

Not a bit of it. Julie Morgan, then the sitting MP for Cardiff North, had gathered supporters on the banks of Llanishen Reservoir in protest at plans to drain the water from the beauty spot. Ed Miliband was en route to lend his support.

The mood was upbeat as they waited for the Doncaster North MP to arrive. It is hard to be downcast about politics when standing in warm afternoon sunshine beside sparkling water which is the same colour as a brilliant blue sky.

A car sped along the lane leading to the reservoir and the driver had scarcely braked before a tall, youngish man in a suit jumped out and hurtled towards Ms Morgan and her small army of volunteer door-knockers.

There are politicians who shy away from the public and others who are energised with each handshake. Ed Miliband is in the latter category.

By the time he had thanked the supporters for their work he had become a whirring dynamo of incandescent enthusiasm. He spoke about the value of Llanishen Reservoir as if its preservation was a passion which had burned in his belly since the age of eight.

He was running ahead of schedule and the photographer had yet to appear. The cheerful band of retirees and Labour activists stood in their brightly coloured jackets and chatted among themselves.

Ed could not stay silent when surrounded by the grassroots envelope-stuffers upon whom a party depends. “Can we gather for a moment?” he said.

Beating his arm up and down he implored these men and women to keep fighting and make the extra effort that could win this hyper-marginal seat once again for Labour. He told them they mattered and that this election hung in the balance.

The cynic might say that he already knew such moments were stops on his then undeclared campaign to succeed Gordon Brown as Labour leader.

But that day in leafy Llanishen it was clear Ed is a political animal with a ravenous appetite for electoral adventure and Britain has now heard him roar.